K-Board is the unbreakable USB keyboard

There are a lot of virtual keyboards and synthesizers available for mobile phones and tablets and while they are great fun to tinker with for a few minutes they don’t really allow you to make music the same as a real keyboard. However, now there is the K-Board which comes from Keith McMillen Instruments. This is a USB keyboard that is said to work with any tablet and laptop that has a USB connection. It also has compatibility with the leading software used to create music, such as Ableton Live, GarageBand and Animoog. What’s more, this is a keyboard that is built sturdy and strong, possibly unbreakable.

The K-Board has the base of the QuNexus keyboard, however it is missing the Control Voltage/Gate input and output, but then it isn’t aimed at the professional musician, it’s aimed more at the consumer.

It has been designed to make creating music on tablets and laptops very simple and easy. The device fits in a backpack so it can be carried around and comes with a nano keyboard that is backlit with LED lighting and features what is termed “smart” fabric under the 25 keys, which is touch-sensitive. The keys can detect tilt, pressure and velocity. It does come with a few features that professionals are used to, including aftertouch, polyphonic pitch bend and up and down buttons that have a range of seven octaves.

The company behind the keyboard say that it is strong enough to brush away spills from drinks and is built to take a beating; they claim that the keyboard has survived being run over by a van and it has even been dropped from a two-storey building and survived.

The K-Board comes with plug and play support, taking the power needed for it to run from whatever device it has been connected to. This of course means that you don’t have the hassle of having to carry around a bulky power adapter that is specific to the keyboard. On the downside, it does mean that it will drain the battery of whatever mobile device you are using with it.

Guitar Centre retailers will be offering the K-Board MKI from 1 November with the price tag of US$99.